Blücher

I recently visited arthur1815 and whilst I was there I had a chance to look at his copy of Sam Mustafa's latest rules, BLÜCHER. I must admit that I was very impressed by what I saw. The rules were very well laid out, the diagrams were clear, and there were plenty of illustrative examples. Furthermore there were very few photographs of figures in the book, and those that were included were there for a reason and not just eye-candy or to pad the book out. The book was also a hardback with a proper binding, and printed on very good quality paper. All-in-all it struck me as being a good quality and attractive product. Arthur1815 and I tried out the free, downloadable campaign maps (the SCHARNHORST MAP SYSTEM) and both felt that it both simple and worked very well indeed.

Some days later I had an exchange of emails with David Crook (who writes the A WARGAMING ODYSSEY blog) in which he extolled the virtues of BLÜCHER. He made the very valid point that as I was finally doing something with my collection of Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic figures, what I needed was a decent set of appropriate wargames rules. He advised my to buy BLÜCHER ... and he supported his advice by mentioning that they were the first Napoleonic wargames rules that he had read that treated the Ottoman Army with equal importance as the other armies of the period.

In the face of such overwhelming logic (well it was about as persuasive as it needed to be bearing in mind that I already like the look of the rules!!), I bought a copy ... and it arrived in today's post.

I haven't had much time to look though the rules as yet, but they certainly look as good as I remembered. I particularly like the idea that you don't actually need to base the figures you use on a particular size of base as long as the bases you do use are of a consistent width. The latter fact is important because all measurements are made in base-widths. (It struck me immediately that this should make the rules work well on a grid ... but I think that I need to read them thoroughly before going down that particular route!)

The situation with regard to my first real foray into Napoleonic wargaming is looking good. I have a book of rules that I think will meet all my needs, I have a collection of appropriate figures that I am gradually getting ready, and I have a simple campaign system that I can use. All that's left is for me to put some suitable martial music on the CD player ... and off I go!